National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) position statement and commentary on the use of palliative sedation in imminently dying terminally ill patients.

This paper was written by Timothy W. Kirk, PhD, and Margaret M. Mahon, PhD, RN, FAAN, on behalf of the Palliative Sedation Task Force of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) Ethics Committee. Members of the Palliative Sedation Task Force were Timothy W. Kirk, PhD (Chair), Kathleen Bliss, MSN, RN, CHA, Pamela Dalinis, MA, BSN, RN, Margaret M. Mahon, PhD, RN, FAAN, Martha McCusker, MD, FACP, W. Brian Guthrie, MD, Marian Silverman, PhD, RN, CHPN, and Joseph Wadas, STL. This paper was approved by the NHPCO Ethics Committee in October 2009 and the NHPCO Board of Directors in December 2009. Creation of this manuscript was not supported by external funding. All members of the NHPCO Ethics Committee are volunteer members. Address correspondence to: Timothy W. Kirk, PhD, Department of History and Philosophy, CUNYdYork College, 94-20 Guy R Brewer Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11451, USA. E-mail: [email protected]